If things seem to be under control, youre not moving fast enough'

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• If things seem to be under control, youre not
  moving fast enough.

Mario Andretti
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Bang! and the underachievement is gone!
1001 Achievement Strategies

• Tuesday 14th October 2008
• Sai Patel

New and Improved!
Raising Achievement, Transforming Learning
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Structure

• Pupils
• Parents
• Staff
• Data and Value added

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Warning Some of the achievement strategies
mentioned in this presentation are contentious
and, although are proved to raise achievement,
they may be against the moral and ethical
principles of some teachers
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Pupils Culture

• Talk to students all day, everyday. Ask
• Which 5 Cs are you going to get?
• What is your predicted value added score?
• What are your priority areas?
• Whats stopping you from getting the next grade?
• What does work at that level look like?
• Remove them if they prevent learning
• Can do approach

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Pupils Progress

• Attitude to Learning Score
• Reporting cycle Race Prep in Autumn
• Role of the tutor

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Pupils Celebration

• What incentives and rewards do you use?
• Do they work?
• What do the students want?
• School Celebration Policy
• What is it?
• Is it as robust as the Behaviour Policy?

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Passport to the Prom

• Pages can include
• Signed off coursework
• Stamps for attending key revision sessions
• Website challenges
• e-Mentoring log
• Post 16/careers sign off
• SAM Learning time

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Coursework

• Remove vulnerable students out of some subjects
• Work with best staff to improve coursework
• Pay staff/students to mentor students through
  coursework
• No U grades
• Do not allow coursework grade to be lower than
  the Target Grade
• Make it a school policy and track it

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Coursework

• What is the difference between coursework and
  exam grade in your school? (Especially boys)
• Use writing frames to help some students
• Do not trust them to do it as homework
• Make sure there is lesson/supervised time for it
• Make sure all coursework is completed in Year 10
  effect on results?
• February 14th

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Reflect Discuss Action
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Revision

• Get revision posters up around the school
• What? - 10 things I need to know to
• Where? Toilet doors, anywhere they queue
• Produce digital resources in the best formats
• iPods/MP3, mobile phone, DVD
• Use scrolling PowerPoint presentations of key
  ideas and exam hints
• Play them as students are entering classrooms

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Revision

• Systems like SAM Learning work
• Motivate students to use them
• Use rewards for time online
• Use BBC Bitesize
• Materials in mobile phone format
• Core subjects conference
• Environment
• Self-esteem
• Team building

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Revision Module Mats
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Dont forget about technique!

• Do not only focus on covering the syllabus
• Use peer marking of past questions it helps
  everyone
• Focus on exam techniques
• Use exemplar material at different levels
• Make sure the students understand the levels
• Make sure they know what to do on each paper!

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E-mentoring

• Students want to work at 9pm at night
• What support is there at that time?
• Can you pay older students to lead chat room
  sessions or discussion forums?
• About 15 of students prefer to learn in this way

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On the big day

• Breakfast club minibus collects risky
  students
• Pep talk by a member of staff cover key points
  and topics
• Walk to exams make it an experience
• Provide water/sweets/fruit on exam desk
• SLT to start all exams with a positive message
• Invigilators to fetch SLT if someone stops working

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In the exam hall.

• Celebrate Paper 1 finishing
• Issue reminders of Paper 2 contents
• Run an immediate revision session

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Reflect Discuss Action
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Parents

• Ask them to bring their diaries
• List all key dates in a variety of formats
• Give them a wallet sized card with them on
• Give them a calendar with them on
• Run through support available

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Parent as mentors?

• Produce a Parents Support Booklet for each
  subject
• What do the students need to know?
• How can the parents help in that subject?
• Coursework requirements and dates
• Include a booklet of support work for when there
  is no homework

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Communication

• Traditional newsletter?
• Text message
• Web based portal to MIS system
• Parents Alert on desktop

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Partnership

• Interviews with all Year 11 parents and children
  individually
• Go through each subject to find out
• How things are going?
• Will target be met?
• Are they taught well?
• How can they be supported at home?

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Staff

• Head of Years must own each child academically
  do they do this?
• Can all staff level work correctly?
• Visit other schools, pay people from other
  schools to mentor your staff, get experts in
• Go for Learning Walks with HODs
• Observe staff every day 10 lessons per year is
  1 of teaching
• Everyone can turn it on for an observation

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Staff

• Ban phrases and activities like study leave,
  winding down, poster, word searches etc.
• If it is not working change it!
• Change staffing and grouping at Xmas?
• Handle issues about underperformance of staff
  early
• No favours to anyone by leaving it move people
  on if necessary

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Staff

• Must have an aspirational but realistic target
  for all students
• They must understand where the grade came from
• The expectation is that the target grade is
  achieved
• Accountability is everything

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Staff Reduce Stress

• Provide services to reduce staff stress
• dry cleaning, fruit and water, a masseur, reduced
  membership to local health facilities, get
  support staff to fetch prescriptions and get tax
  discs
• Reward the staff regularly and often
• free cakes, meals, a party thank them every
  week for making such a difference
• Take stress off staff quality lessons No. 1
  priority
• Get rid of minutes, agendas, memos, unnecessary
  paperwork
• If it doesnt improve the quality of lessons
  dont do it!

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Time

• Timetable so your best teachers teach the crucial
  groups
• Change blocking if necessary
• Registration can be 100 hrs per year
• How can it be used as a learning experience?
• Hold separate assemblies for key groups
• Underachievers, disaffected, A/A, C/D, G/U, all
  achievers?
• Use external motivators

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Spaces

• Large sessions led by your most motivating staff
• Session supported by other staff back in class
• Small group areas for small group focus

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Reflect Discuss Action
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Data

• Who owns the data?
• Can they communicate effectively?
• Dont focus on C/D at expense of others
• A U instead of a G is 2½ times worse than a
  D instead of a C

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Data Staff

• Make sure SLT and governors understand Value
  Added
• If one person doesnt it will appear not
  important
• Make sure staff understand Value Added
• Produce a data users guide for staff

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Value Added

• Where are you losing Value Added?
• Work it out for every subject, class, teacher,
  student
• Publish to all staff?
• Produce a hit list of negative Value Added
  students
• Mention it constantly
• Attach SLT to the students

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Tracking

• Which students will get Maths but not English?
• Which students will get English but not Maths?
• What are you doing about it?
• Which 8 subjects will count?
• Which students are matched?

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Tracking

• Are you using the full functionality of you MIS
  system?
• Simple Excel traffic lights work fine

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High Visibility The Data War Room

• Y11 need project management
• You need the systems in place to track
  everything
• Your Y11 Learning Manager needs a war room
  with traffic light regular monitoring systems

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Play the game

• Get the extras in!
• Make sure all EAL students do GCSE in their main
  language
• Look at ASDAN, ALAN
• Look at Section 96
• Music exams
• Sports Leaders etc.
• They all count points towards value added

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Above all

• You can do anything, but you cant do everything!
• Whats important?
• Keep it simple
• Ensure excellent implementation

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Thank you